Parliament must listen to regions, says new CoR chief

GERMAN Christian Democrat Peter Straub is the new president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR).

European Voice

2/11/04, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 9:43 AM CET

Straub, 64, president of the regional parliament (Landtag) of Baden-Württemberg, was elected unopposed by members of the CoR at their plenary session in Brussels yesterday (11 February).

He succeeds Albert Bore, the Labour leader of Birmingham City Council in the UK, and will serve a two-year term.

Straub said his presidency would focus on the Committee’s relationship with the European Parliament, which needed to be on a “firmer basis”.

“The Parliament needs to listen to us more frequently than it has hitherto,” he told members. At a

news conference later, he also expressed disappointment that the EU constitution had not yet been approved and said it was vital that leaders recognized the CoR as the “subsidiarity conscience of the EU”.

Referring to the European Commission’s budget proposals for 2007-13, Straub appeared to distance himself from criticisms levelled by German Finance Minister Hans Eichel, who wants spending cuts.

“Enlargement can’t be free of charge,” said Straub, adding that the incoming member states needed financial aid to bring them up to the level of current members.

A lawyer by background, he joined the German Christian Democrat Party (CDU) in 1968 and has been a member of the Stuttgart-based parliament of Baden-Württemberg since 1984. Straub was appointed to the CoR in 1997 and has served on two of its commissions – economic and social policy, plus constitutional and European governance.

In addition, the father-of-two is a vice-president of the Assembly of European Regions in Strasbourg and on the bureau of the Conference of the Presidents of Legislative Assemblies and Regions in Europe.

He will be keen to build on internal reforms initiated by his predecessor, aimed at boosting the image of the CoR, which has been through a turbulent 12 months.

Last September, its Secretary-General Vincenzo Falcone had his appointment annulled by the Court of First Instance after it ruled that

procedural rules were breached

by the selection committee. Gerhard Stahl was appointed acting secretary-general in his place.